Ford September European Sales Regains Lead Over Fiat Chrysler

Cars and Drivers

Published: October 17, 2017 12:29 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 7:06 am

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reported Tuesday that new vehicle registrations in the European Union (EU) fell 2% in September compared with new registrations in September of 2016. New registrations for the month totaled 1.43 million units, but the ACEA noted that last September posted an all-time record of 1.46 million units sold.

Latvia reported the largest year-over-year decline, 20.8%, followed by Ireland where sales fell 17.0%. The largest percentage gains came in Lithuania (45.7%) and Greece (29.4%). On a volume basis, sales in Germany totaled 288,035 units (down 3.3% year over year) and sales in United Kingdom totaled 426,170 units (down 9.3%).

For the first nine months of 2017, new passenger car registrations are up 3.7% to a total of 11.66 million. Registrations rose the most in Lithuania (22.7%), Croatia (21.3%) and Hungary (19%). Sales in the United Kingdom are down 3.9% for the same period.

The top-selling maker in the EU is Volkswagen, which sold 330,112 vehicles in September, down 0.9% year over year for the month. VW’s market share for the month totaled 23.1%, up from 22.9% in September 2016. Registrations are up 2.4% for the first nine months of the year.

PSA Group, makers of Peugeot and Citroen among other brands, posted an increase of 70.1% to 216,005 units. The company’s market share rose from 8.7% to 15.1%. The increase includes sales in the Opel/Vauxhall group the company acquired from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) earlier this year.

Renault Group posted an increase of 0.6% to 130,116 units, while its share rose year over year from 8.9% in September 2016 to 9.1%.

Of the Detroit Three, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sold 91,819 units in September, down 12.9% year over year for the month. The company’s September market share came to 6.4%, down from 7.2% last year.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU) maintained its market share in the EU unchanged at 6.2% in September. Sales were led by a 14.6% increase in sales of the company’s Alfa Romeo brand and a 2.7% increase in Jeep sales. FCA sold 88,519 units in September, down 1.3% compared with September 2016.

GM has effectively left the EU market and had sales of just 45 units in September.

BMW Group’s market share in September was unchanged year over year at 7.6%. The company sold 108,524 units last month. Daimler posted a market share gain, ticking up from 6.7% in September 2016 to 6.8% last month, with sales totaling 96,855 units.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) posted market share of 4.6% in September, up from 4.4% a year ago. Sales volume rose 3% to 66,283 units. The percentage increase came in the company’s Toyota division, up 3.6% year over year, while Lexus division sales fell 2.7%.

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